Facebook and a suicide-prevention group in the United States have partnered to develop and new Facebook feature that could recognize signs of suicide and offer help.

The company noted its users, especially the younger set, contemplating suicide write about their emotional struggles on their Facebook social media profiles.

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The feature developed by Facebook with Forefront: Innovations in Suicide Prevention was announced at the recent Compassion Research Day at Facebook's headquarters.

Forefront is an organization at the University of Washington's School of Social Work that describes itself as a place where expertise and partnership come together with a passion to save lives.

Its mission is to advance innovative approaches to suicide prevention through policy change, professional training, campus and school-based interventions, media outreach, support for persons affected by suicide and program evaluation.

When a Facebook user reads a post that suggests its author might be considering suicide, he can click on a dropdown menu and report the post to Facebook.

That reporting activates a series of actions. The person who flags the post will see a screen with links that allow him to message the potentially suicidal person. Apart from this option, this person can connect with a trained professional at a suicide helpline for guidance or contact another Facebook friend for support.

Facebook will then review the post. If the poster is thought to be in distress, a series of screens will automatically launch when the would-be suicide next logs onto Facebook along with suggestions for getting professional help.